God will tell you when you need to stop praying

You're a leader and you're busy. You have a to do list that makes others cringe.

And one day, as you think about all that you have to do, you hear a still, small voice saying, "Come away with me." And your mental response is split right down the middle between, "Wow, that sounds amazing" and "Oh no, I have so much to do." And you begin to count the cost of what would happen if you are absent. What could go wrong?

This is a common feeling for me. I love God’s presence more than anything, and my goal is to start a movement of leaders who would know how to hear His voice. At the same time, I am full of vision and ideas and my to do list is super long (many of the things on my list are things I felt God told me to do).

So when I get the call to go into the wilderness, to spend extended times with God, and I know it’s Him calling me to do it, I sometimes feel fear about what will happen to all the things I should be doing when I’m gone.

I remember Aaron making a golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain, and I wonder what awful things will occur if I go to the mountain or if my team takes time to go to the mountain.

But then I read this verse, “Then the Lord said, ‘Go down….’ “ Exodus 32:7.

Moses is on the mountain, and God says, “We’re done here. Time to go and handle this situation.” In other words, God was aware of the emergency and he knew it was time to do something about it. His initial response was to destroy the people, but through Moses’ intercession, God sent Moses into the situation to bring correction.

Moses came down right in the middle of all of the revelry. He came just at the right time to address the people’s behavior.

Now you might be thinking, “Wouldn’t it have been better if God sent Moses down before the golden calf was made?”

But the reality is that there are moments when part of the maturity of the community you are leading is found in allowing them to falter or make decisions for themselves. God knows when to call you away to give people space to make those decisions and when to send you back in to bring correction and guidance and leadership.

About once every three or four months, our team takes out an entire week to pray and to learn. And there’s always a question of what will happen to the people out in villages where we want to see transformation.

During that week, our team spent hour long shifts praying through one night. In the morning, one of our team members got a phone call from a woman who said she had had a powerful dream.

Sometimes when we go away, things are initiated that could never have happened when we are there.

I recognize that not all of you are leading in contexts in which you can go up on a mountain, as you might not be leading in a ministry context where that kind of thing is affirmed. But you can still carve small portions out of your day. You can take longer breaks to pray. You can choose what you do with your lunch break. You might be able to take time for reflection and planning that includes prayer.

Do you feel that tug to go away? Or have you been up on the mountain and God is telling you to go down?